Huskies hopeful, Hawks hurtin'

Made two stops on this beautiful Saturday to get my first football fix before heading off on one last late-summer vacation.

First stop was in Northampton to see Dieruff and the Konkrete Kids tangle.

It was a very spirited scrimmage, and the Huskies, to my surprise, more than held their own.

They don't keep score in scrimmages. If they did, Northampton would have won one touchdown to none, but everyone -- Northampton people included -- were impressed by the improvement being shown by Dieruff. Remember, the K-Kids are considered one of the top four or five teams in the Lehigh Valley Conference this season.

I had begun to wonder if things were ever going to get better for the Huskies, who have lost 21 straight and were mercy-ruled in about 17 of those.

I wondered if Dieruff should leave the LVC, either for another league or to play an independent schedule.

I had to wonder why Keith Brader, who was the last Dieruff coach to win in a game in 2004, would want to come back to what appeared to be a bleak situation after he seemed happy as an assistant in Emmaus.

<(Keith Brader)

But now I see why he came back to his alma mater. I see that Dieruff has potential. Not to win a championship, no, not yet. Not nearly. But potential to be competitive and win some games.

There's a new spirit, a new sense of desire and organization in place. The big news is that after one week of practice is that the Huskies still have 73 kids on their roster. They began the week with 75. They also have 40-plus in the freshman program. That's outstanding for a beleaguered program that finished the 2006 season with about 20 kids.

Even former Whitehall coach Bob Panny, Dieruff's new defensive coordinator, was impressed with the effort.

"These kids work their bleeps off," he said.

Now, the hard work needs to continue. The sooner those kids can taste success, the better.

Next up was a trip to see Lehigh University's intrasquad scrimmage.

Coach Andy Coen was not happy with his offense. The only big plays were coming from the defensive end. But the real story here is how many players are banged up. When the scrimmage was over, I asked Coen how many kids were hurt. There were so many that he needed to pull out a sheet and go over all the names.

When he was done counting, the total had reached 18.

<(Andy Coen)

Most notable were injuries that sidelined both tailbacks Matt McGowan and Josh Pastore. McGowan's injury was more serious, a torn hamstring. It's expected to keep him out of the Sept. 8 opener against Villanova and could hamper him for weeks beyond that. The former Hazleton star was set for a breakout season and this injury is not a good way to get things started.

The injury list was such a concern that Coen was reluctant to even name about four or five starters for the Villanova game. He said that if the Villanova game was on Sept. 1, when most teams open, Lehigh wouldn't nearly be ready. So, maybe, the bye week coming on Week 1 will be beneficial after all.

On the plus side, Coen ticked off the names of several freshmen: DBs John Kennedy and Jerard Cribbs; WRs Travis Artim and Craig Zurn (from Whitehall and Jim Thorpe respectively), RBs Kwesi Kankam and Jaren Walker, and offensive linemen Ricky Clerge and William Rackley who have all played well and appear ready to contribute immediately.

There's still a long way to go before opening day, so hopefully, injuries will heal and things will solidify for the Mountain Hawks, but the play of his team didn't have Coen in a particularly good mood today.

"Let's keep it simple and just say we stink," he said, only half-kidding.

I'll be seeing him next Saturday at the team's media day and we'll see if the situation has improved.